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Some user group comrads from a classic road bike group reported surprise at what they found in town after town (with bike shops) after they'd gone to the expense of shipping their vintage steel bikes to Italy for credit card touring. (Their bikes were primo brazed and filet brazed steel, within a few lb of minimum unsupported weight of road racers of the day, the day being pre-1983. Say 20-22 lb.)

Hanging out at the shops were old men like me, very fit riders (unlike me) in current team kit, not classic stuff. Their bikes? Copies of current carbon-fiber (CF) frame, CF-wheeled bikes, saving 3-4 lb, some outfitted with enough gram-saving components to bring weight to the current racing authority mandated minimum of 15lb.

If they want to compete going up mountains-- and they do with each other and with younger riders in the club -- they don't want to haul an extra 5lb up mountains while putting out 200-250 watts. And they could care less if the bike -- the CF frame and wheels especially --last more than a couple of years, because next years models will be at least 5% and maybe 10% lighter.(No lower limit on bikes not used in competition.)

The point of saving is to have the $3000 to buy a new frame and wheels every couple of years, because at 65-75, that isn't going happen too often. Every purchase the last several years could be counted on to save at least 3-4 oz / 100g.

Wow, still no answers to the OP?

You're not getting much help, OP, are you? A number of "meh?" and another bunch of "whatever it takes...."

So, I'll start by mentioning an implied cost / benefit the Jacks do in showing the weight saving by filling with very expensive 900FP down instead of 800FP stuff. They show it for a winter quilt and then for a summer quilt. Obviously the more down the quilt has the more down can be saved. The % reduction in down weight is the same between quilts, but for the summer quilt which started with just 4oz, all that is to be saved is 1/2 oz. The shell has the same weight.

Now to some, the 'spensive stuff is especially a bargain. Because they're not swapping much, it doesn't cost much. To others, the weight saving of 3 US quarters isn't worth the expense, but they might feel differently about saving 2oz on a fall or summer quilt.

As a bike camper, I can justify spending seriously to save the space that can come with saving the weight. (As though at my speed, the added wind drag would be noticeable.) But serious $ to save a couple of cubic inches? Better to learn how to pack less air. Or lose 10lb of un-needed body weight, accomplished by eating 5lb of NJ tomatoes (@$0.50lb) per day for the last three weeks. (No lie. They all go in a blender.)

To your original question, you are correct there is no right answer. As others have pointed out in the stories, the whether the price is worth it is too subjective. As others have said, cost is certainly a variable in their consideration but personally I don't calculate it as a ratio and then say, well that doesn't meet my oz/$ threshold. That said, most people err is their initial quest to cut weight, they look at the expensive stuff first instead of the least expensive.

The ultimate weight savings/cost solution is to eliminate the item in its entirety (example tent stakes). Tied for the ultimate, is realizing that something else can accomplish the same task, perhaps not as well, but it works (example sitpad is also backpack frame and footpad for sleeping). Some are real cheap replacements, even lighter than the expensive ones. (example: turkey roaster bags instead of cuben fiber stuff sacks).

The harder decision is not cost/weight savings ratio but, the comfort/weight savings ratio.